Sunday, March 28, 2010

Wonder Mom Powers Activate!

Anya was racing through the house, clambering onto our bed and jumping as high as she could shouting, "Super Anya!" and Alex, laughing joyously, joined her, exclaiming, "Super Alex!"

I knew that they needed superhero capes as soon as possible.

Georgia over at Puking Pastilles has a fantastic tutorial on how to make reversible capes for your little superheroes. I let the kids pick their favorite colors and drew up a simple "A" logo for them (though she has templates for Superman, Batman, Obama, and a couple of Superwhy! characters on her site). I picked up less than $10 of materials from the fabric store (and could have gotten away with less if I had been more organized about what felt and fusible webbing I already had in the Horrible Mess Craft Box). The whole project probably took less than 2 hours of working time, including the time it took me to try to remember how to use my sewing machine. And honestly, you could hand stitch it pretty easily. I played it fast and loose with the pattern and just used her tutorial as a guide, then drew up a pattern on a big piece of paper from the kids' easel, but you can also check out her etsy store and buy a pdf of the exact pattern with three sizes.

They've been wearing the capes constantly since I finished them, and the experience has re-inspired me to make more awesome stuff for imaginative play. Anyone have any favorite ideas?